Letters are edited
for spelling errors only (occasionally), and may contain profanity. Commentary
by Jason "loonyboi" Bergman.

Damn that game's good.

From:
Erik Collett Subject: System Shock 2

Oh blessed,

I just finished System
Shock 2. Just curious how the loonyboi was doing on it himself.
=] One of the most spine tingling, mind embedding, well written
games I've played in a long time. A definite tribute to the first.
Wow! All I can say... Wow!

Strangely, it
was more terrifying than most of the movies that have come out.
Definitely worth a few nightmares.

===
__
|_ LC /\/\AN
\_ |..|

Sadly, I can't say
I'm very far in it yet. While I've been playing it obsessively (well,
comparatively speaking of course, I don't exactly have very much
time to devote to pure game playing these days) I'm still in the
cargo bay area. Actually, I'm at the end, but I can't for the life
of me figure out where to stick that damn bypass board. :)

But the game rules.
Genuinely creepy without being too bad (I had to stop playing Thief:
The Dark Project...those Zombies scared the heck out of me).

I read the statement
you posted by Wes Echart. Rather than allow players to shoot
through tents and water. Wes would be better advised to fix
the cheating that is permitted in Delta Force. So it shall be
written... so it shall be done...

Flattery
will get you everywhere.

From:
Nigel Atins Subject: Appreciation

Just read the OotB for
8-4-99
Your comments are refreshinglly human and intelligent when compared
to ALL other media (yes, even more so than the jurnalistic GOD,
Stone Phillips ;) and are exactlly why i visit your site everyday
(also for FPS news or something). You rock.

-sCiSs0rs

Damn
lag at QuakeCon.

From:
PupSubject: You were robbed!

Blue,

Just got done checking
out the stats to your match. 9 to 8? You'd think that with all
the techies there, they could have hooked up a better network
than that. That guy had 1/3 your ping! I mean, how can they
expect you to be competitive with a ping of 6. That's a load
of crap. I demand a recount!

Pup

Konsole
Komplaint.

From:
Mike BuckSubject: Consoles?

Thought Blue was about computers, not consoles. Consoles suck. The
few good games on them always get ported to PC's, so who cares about
them? Were not living in Japan, we have other options beside Nintendo.
Nvidia, 3dfx, Matrox, etc. And this Dreamcast thing? Its a wannabe
computer. The stores are already calling its games software, and
it has a keyboard. Thats gay. Playstation is the only console that
has any descent games (and those are limited) but I'm not gonna
bash it becomes it comes from a good company. I have a Sony monitor,
better than anything Optiquest in its price range. Keep Blue for
computer users. Let console people :

A. get a computer then
comeback
B. go to nintendo.com or something

Mike Buck

Yeesh. You do two
console related posts in one day, and all of a sudden we're Nintendo
Power to some people.

Any programmers
in the house?

From:
Matt Subject: About that letter about Outcast

Obviously we
don't have any 3D renderer coders out there bothering with
the mailbag. The reason for the fish eye vision is that
the perspective correction is only set up to correct for
distance to the horizon, not for any angles up or down.
It has to do with the 2d data structure of the level and
how it is expanded into a volume. I think I have a fix,
and I'm trying to retrofit Doom, but if any Doom coders
out there wanna give it a try and beat me to it, just mail
me and I'll try and explain.

-Czar

Oh, nimajneb,
a SEAL I met a while back said that the worst thing SEALS
do in his opinion are lockouts, where they 'launch' themselves
out of a torpedo tube on a sub.

Why
not use a hammer as a joystick?

From:
Dead_Cow Subject: Mouse surfaces!!

Why go through all this
trouble with mousing surfaces? I swear... Here's the BEST mousing
surface you'll find: a piece of 80 grit sandpaper! Grips the mouse
ball like a champ! The best part about it is it's less that $.25
US per mousing surface!! Not only that, your hands stay buttery
smooth. No calluses on your hands, no siree! And when your all done
mousing, you can take you mouse pad and grind that ring off your
coffee table from the Big Gulp you left sitting there for 10 days.
It's just a solution that's full 'o goodness. I'm sure you can think
of many other good uses too!

Dead_Cow

Hulk
smash puny brain!

From:
Simon SpeichertSubject: Hulk's brain hurts..

Wow.. If you ever think
you're smart and are looking to be proven wrong, just talk to Corrinne
Yu.. Are you sure she didn't make that stuff up just to try to fool
us?

-- Simon "Spyke"
Speichert

I don't think I need
that headache. :)

They're
baaaaaaaack.

From:
MillerSubject: Barrett Alaxander at ROGUE!?

Whoa. First
American McGee returns, now it's "The Bear".
Proves that you can NEVER run away from the game industry.
When's Abrash comin back?

Foozmelon

Just wait
for the "Mike Abrash's Winnie" announcement
from Microsoft. He's secretly been working on a twisted
first person shooter based on Winnie the Pooh.

Another
SS2 addict.

From:
Thomas QuarlesSubject: Ow!

What's that
barbed shiny sharp thing protruding from the corner
of my mouth?
Why, it's a hook...
Much like the Loonster, I too, am utterly hooked on
System Shock 2...

Thomas Quarles
violet13

Post Scriptum:
A couple of nights ago, my young, murderous nephew phoned
all enthused that he had seen I had (again) made it
to the mailbag. I wasn't even aware of it...just goes
to show how deeply he pours over Bluesnews.

Made his Uncle Tom a hero in his eyes...my thanks and
it is my great privilege to have been selected.

Oh, one
more thing...if you're still planning on coming to Austin
on the Q3 tour, know that we're having a 100 percent
typical August. That is 100 percent humidity and 100
degrees. Eeeek!

and if you're
trying to think of an excuse yes I know loonyboi made
that post but darn it, you can update it!!! You could've
made sure he put "Thanks Mom" in there for
ya when you called him on the phone...

Pardon
me that I don't have the exact title of the
post here, but I thought that previous post
about how unfair it was to have higher ping
players playing against the guys with low pings
in their games.

Might
I point out how much effort Id has put into
making games playable with people with very
very bad pings ? Remember falling into the lava
with Quake 1 non-QuakeWorld and moving jerk
jerk jerk style and then being lighteninged
(?) and being dead while the other 20 users
ran all over your dead body ? Then came QW and
this changed, didn't it ?

And no.. someone with a low ping will not always
win. There are some very good players with a
high ping who wind up destroying everyone else
(I admit they are not in the majority). A bad
LPB is actually kind of funny to beat up on
(and there are quite a few of them). If you
combine LPB and a good player of course, you
are kind of dead meat if you are not the LPB.
But LPB makes you actually keep on your feet
and kind of a challenge to play against, so
I think they can actually be kind of fun to
go up against a LPB where you just don't have
that 1 or 2 seconds to think about how you will
respond. What isn't very fun are the people
who whine and call people fags and stuff like
that when they loose or get killed by a camper
or supposed camper. I suppose a LPB camper would
be the ultimate distress to these people :)

Just for the fun of it I've joined some games
with a 500 ping (I usually have a choice of
games in the 200 range) in Q3Test. It actually
works which is a miracle for that kind of ping
and it actually can be fun to shoot yourself
in the back with a rocket. Doesn't play very
well the the railgun though with a 1 second
pause between firing :) It does play though
and it's still fun at a ping of 500 and this
is a testament (sp?) to the fact that ID does
work to make it playable for high ping people.

We
0wn. W3rd.

From:
SlipMat]GODSubject: YOU OWN!!!!!

Hey
guys,

Just looked at that ICQ shit, and yea,
they always do that, and Yea.. I always
point my broswers home page to BLUESNEWS!
Where we just can't make this shit up.
I liked that thingy. I dunno why, but
I feel so much better that other people
have their home page as bluesnews. I
feel apart of the group now. Thanks
Blue/Loonie and all the blue goats that
run around in my head.

SlipMat]GOD

Ahhh...not
quite.

From:
Pablo J. NevaresSubject: KAK's contest

"Send
your guess to kak@idsoftware.com.
(Hint: it's blue and it's a
place you can go to discuss
the bus tour)."

Is the Q3A tour bus taking an
unscheduled detour to the Blue
Tower in NY??

-Pablo.N.

Not
exactly. But boy would that
be more convenient than my flying
down to Texas again. ;)

Yay!
We're not whores!

From:
BishrSubject: T-buffer...(no
A?)

Hey-

Longtime reader, uh,
several times before
email-er.

Congrats,
blue. And looni too.

Today you've proven
not to be corporate
whores.

Every website (and their
cousins) have hyped
up their particular
coverage of the new
"Napalm" with
the T-buffer, and their
excited ramblings made
me think "HOLY
S***! I've gotta get
one of these!"

Then I snapped back
to reality. This is
all really eary, still
possibly sketchy info.
The hype provided by
everyone (except y'all)
was simply to increase
readership of that article,
maybe of the whole site.
But then again, once
you've read the scoop
once, and seen the "amazing"
blur, everything else
is rerun, and you've
got disinterested readers
skimming.

Pawns, baby. Free hype,
free advertisements,
and a good way to cut
into all sales of 3d
cards right now (remember,
3dfx has been #1 in
retail sales for awhile
w/Voodoo^3, and by doing
this they cut into all
sales, reducing the
competitions' chances
of catching up before
the year is up)

I
went to Quakecon
this year, and
I went to Qaukecon
last year. This
years event
was lame. I
signed up the
night that the
signups started.
I was number
1084, after
the culling
a month ago
I went to number
634, on friday
when I showed
up I was told
that so many
people did not
show up that
there were open
spots in the
tourney. I asked
if I could bring
in my machine,
the answer was
"NO, you
can not bring
in your machine"
I walked around
for about 45
minutes. Only
a little more
then 1/2 the
tables where
being used.
If someone with
the 512 number
did not show
up, no one was
allowed to take
his place on
the network,
but could take
his place in
the tourney.
The people that
were over Quakecon
let a bunch
of no - shows
ruin it for
the rest of
us. If you look
at the numbers,
I went from
1084 to somewhere
within the 512
number. Theat
means that around
600 people droped
or did not show
up.

Gcon, next month
in Beaumont
Texas. There
is going to
be a Q2 - Q3
tourney, the
grand prize
is a new loaded
machine. Door
prizeses will
be given away
also like new
joysticks. Unlike
Qaukecon, if
you signup you
can bring your
machine. The
event will be
held in the
Beaumont civic
center.http://www.pernet.net/~revy/gcon